Gender, Electoral Rules, and Parliamentary Activity

• In Event: Legislative Style

Abstract

We argue that gender affects how legislators use parliamentary tools. As a group of legislators trying to overcome their underrepresentation, female legislators are more likely to use unconstrained parliamentary tools that any legislator can use without quotas or party discipline. There is always tension between individual and party representations, and political parties are essential in representing general policy issues, while there is more room for individual representation when representing specific interests. Gender and partisan behaviors interact. Female legislators may use parliamentary tools more differently than their male counterparts, depending on whether or not they are in the majority.
Our research aims at investigating whether gender affects legislators’ activities from a comparative perspective. We define and measure legislative activities as the number of parliamentary questions asked, motions presented, one-minute speeches delivered, and private members’ bills initiated by individual legislators. To explain the varying degree of the legislators’ activities, we compared the three countries, the UK, Japan, and Israel, and analyzed the inherent tension between the party and its legislators. For each country, we gathered data on three full parliamentary terms.
We found that the interaction between gender and electoral rules matter in the legislators’ use of legislative and non-legislative tools. As the proportionality of the electoral system increases from the single-member district plurality in the UK to the proportional representation in Israel, female legislators become active in using parliamentary tools, especially when they are in the minority. The Japanese Diet consists of the two houses, offering intermediary electoral systems. The plurality system varies in district magnitude, and the proportional representation differs in whether the party list is closed or open.

Authors

• Osnat Akirav, Western Galilee College

• Mikitaka Masuyama, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies